Where Is The Iranian Initiative Towards
Syria? To Adopt Practical Steps To Accelerate His
Downfall

24 August 2012

By Tariq Alhomayed

Before the recent meeting of
the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, the Iranian
Foreign Minister [Ali Akbar Salehi] had announced his
country's intention to launch an initiative on Syria
during the summit. At the time, Salehi said that the
Iranian initiative would be "acceptable, rational and
principled" and would be "very difficult to oppose",
so what has happened to this initiative? Where is it?

It was noteworthy that during Iran's closing
statement of the Non-Aligned Movement summit, there
was no indication of the so-called "Tehran
Declaration" regarding the situation in Syria, whether
directly or indirectly. According to the New York
Times, quoting US diplomats, the Iranians tried in the
afternoon of the last day of the summit to pass a
separate paragraph on Syria, but failed due to the
resistance of Arab delegations. The newspaper also
reported that Iran was "first unwilling and later
unable to gather support for President Bashar al-Assad's
government", adding that the Iranians remained silent
on Syria before the summit "to prevent disagreements,
Iranian officials acknowledged". The newspaper also
cited eyewitnesses when revealing that "frustration
was visible on Friday afternoon when the Iranian
foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, could be seen
talking and gesturing in the main hall while debating
with his Syrian counterpart for nearly 20 minutes"!

So, was there really an Iranian initiative towards
Syria? How could Salehi previously announce that this
initiative would be presented at the Non-Aligned
Movement summit, saying it would be an acceptable
proposal and difficult to oppose, and then Iran
refrains from putting it forward? As I asked in a
previous article: Is it conceivable that Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki dared to put forward his own
proposal to resolve the Syrian crisis during the
summit, at a time when the Iranian Foreign Minister
announced that his country also intended to launch a
special initiative on Syria? What is going on? Clearly
we are facing several possible scenarios; either Iran
feels it has now become too difficult to save al-Assad,
given the facts on the ground, or al-Assad himself
rejected Iran's proposals, given that they may require
him to leave in order to preserve the regime, i.e. al-Assad
would leave for Tehran and Iran's allies would remain
in the new Syrian regime. Some might say that perhaps
Iranian attempts were foiled as a result of Arab
opposition in the Non-Aligned Movement summit, and
this is also a possibility. But what prevents Tehran
from putting forth its initiative outside of the
Non-Aligned Movement? There is no logical answer to
this question as of yet, which essentially means that
Iran is unable to put forth an initiative on Syria,
like the Russians, unless it leads to the departure of
al-Assad. This is something that the tyrant of
Damascus completely rejects, and this reveals – as I
pointed out in my previous article "Al-Assad is well
aware of what he is saying!" – that the recent
television interview conducted by the Syrian President
on the eve of the Non-Aligned Movement summit was a
call to his allies to give him more time!

Hence, I will conclude by saying that Tehran has
failed with regards to the Syrian issue, and that its
position now is very similar to that of Russia. Both –
Iran and Russia – are capable of disrupting
[international efforts], but they are not able to
change the reality in Syria. This means that al-Assad
is heading towards his inevitable end, perhaps along
the lines of Muammar Gaddafi or even worse, but only
after destroying Syria in its entirety. This is
something that those who are hesitant to adopt
practical steps to accelerate his downfall have failed
to understand, unfortunately!

Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London.